254 THE STATUS OF MAN, 



cific unity of one people is very generally taken for granted. 

 With what right we will later discuss. 



The very first move in the improvement of the live-stock of a 

 country is a study of the different species, the uses to which they 

 are put, the possibility of making them fit these uses better. In 

 certain cases amalgamation of two or more species may be 

 seriously considered. If our object is the amelioration of the 

 dog-population, or of all the horses, all the fowls, we have to 

 deal with the typical qualities of the species, and such details 

 as the relation between sorrel and chestnut colour in one breed 

 of horses, or the inheritance of broodiness in one group of fowls 

 have practically no interest. 



To one who does not know dogs, the variability of dogs 

 seems kaleidoscopic. All combinations of the most diverse char- 

 acters are seemingly observed in a collection of dogs by anyone 

 not conversant with the characters of the different species. A 

 Zoologist at a dog-show will see dogs with long pointed heads, 

 and others with very short jaws, some with little twisted pig- 

 tails and others with long bushy tails. It is a very curious 

 experiment to take a Zoologist, who does not know domestic 

 animals, to a good dog-show or poultry-show, and afterwards to 

 make him talk about what he saw, an experiment which we 

 can recommend from experience. The thing which is apparent- 

 ly most interesting to the trained observer of animals, is the 

 enormous variability. The stupendous diversity will strike a 

 Zoologist, but, curiously enough, the existence of relatively 

 little variable groups within all, this mass of animals will on 

 the whole escape him. If he attempts to describe from memory, 

 what he saw at his first visit to the dog-show or the poultry 

 exhibition, he will remark upon the enormous range of varia- 

 bility in colour and shape, of size in dogs, of tails in dogs and 

 pigeons, of feathering in poultry, of shape of comb, and feet, 

 and beaks. But he will very likely do so in terms, which will to 

 one who stayed at home, give the impression that almost all 

 possible combinations of these characters were actually to be 

 seen at the show. He may not actually have seen a dog with 



